EP3896523B1 - Procédé et dispositif pour générer des motifs d'interférence (quasi) périodiques - Google Patents

Procédé et dispositif pour générer des motifs d'interférence (quasi) périodiques Download PDF

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EP3896523B1
EP3896523B1 EP20169757.0A EP20169757A EP3896523B1 EP 3896523 B1 EP3896523 B1 EP 3896523B1 EP 20169757 A EP20169757 A EP 20169757A EP 3896523 B1 EP3896523 B1 EP 3896523B1
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Prior art keywords
interference
interference pattern
beams
input
spots
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP3896523A1 (fr
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Niels VERELLEN
Dmitry Kouznetsov
Pol Van Dorpe
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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum vzw IMEC
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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Interuniversitair Microelektronica Centrum vzw IMEC
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Priority to US17/224,466 priority patent/US11555745B2/en
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/70408—Interferometric lithography; Holographic lithography; Self-imaging lithography, e.g. utilizing the Talbot effect
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01J—MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY
    • G01J9/00—Measuring optical phase difference; Determining degree of coherence; Measuring optical wavelength
    • G01J9/02—Measuring optical phase difference; Determining degree of coherence; Measuring optical wavelength by interferometric methods
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01N—INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
    • G01N21/00—Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light
    • G01N21/62—Systems in which the material investigated is excited whereby it emits light or causes a change in wavelength of the incident light
    • G01N21/63—Systems in which the material investigated is excited whereby it emits light or causes a change in wavelength of the incident light optically excited
    • G01N21/64—Fluorescence; Phosphorescence
    • G01N21/645—Specially adapted constructive features of fluorimeters
    • G01N21/6456—Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging
    • G01N21/6458—Fluorescence microscopy
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B21/00—Microscopes
    • G02B21/16—Microscopes adapted for ultraviolet illumination ; Fluorescence microscopes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01J—MEASUREMENT OF INTENSITY, VELOCITY, SPECTRAL CONTENT, POLARISATION, PHASE OR PULSE CHARACTERISTICS OF INFRARED, VISIBLE OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT; COLORIMETRY; RADIATION PYROMETRY
    • G01J9/00—Measuring optical phase difference; Determining degree of coherence; Measuring optical wavelength
    • G01J9/02—Measuring optical phase difference; Determining degree of coherence; Measuring optical wavelength by interferometric methods
    • G01J2009/0269—Microscope type

Definitions

  • the invention relates to illumination pattern generation in two- and three-dimensional systems and specifically to generation of (quasi-) periodic interference patterns of electromagnetic radiation.
  • multi-beam interference lithography has the flexibility to produce maskless high-resolution periodic patterning. This can reduce the feature size with large area, inexpensive, simple periodic nanoscale patterning.
  • technologies such as photonic crystal technology, metamaterials, biomedical structures, subwavelength structures, optical traps, and optical tweezers can be developed or improved by new advances in multi-beam interference (MBI) technologies.
  • (quasi-) periodic radiation interference patterns e.g. by means of MBI
  • MBI multi-focal scanning laser microscopy and spectroscopy
  • structured radiation patterns are generated by orienting multiple beams such that the structured radiation pattern is formed in the region where the beams intersect (multi-beam interference, MBI).
  • MBI multi-beam interference
  • Some of the ways to realize the interfering beams include non-linear materials, phase masks, and intricate light polarization schemes.
  • US Patent US 9,019,468 B2 relates to an interference projection exposure system and a method of using the same for generating periodic illumination patterns.
  • the interference projection exposure system comprises a beam-providing subsystem and an objective lens subsystem.
  • a beam providing subsystem is configured to provide a plurality of light beams and the objective lens subsystem is configured to receive the plurality of light beams such that the plurality of light beams intersect and interfere at the image plane to produce illumination pattern.
  • Trivial here is to be understood as either non-periodic speckle patterns (an example can be seen in Fig. 1b ), or periodic patterns with periodicity on the order of a wavelength or half a wavelength of the used radiation. It is not described how to choose the parameters of the incident beams or their relation to the resulting interference (light) patterns.
  • structured light patterns provide a major impact on imaging resolution by enabling down-modulating spatial frequencies of microscopic structures in techniques such as Structured Illumination Microscopy enabling resolution below the diffraction limit, enable multi-focal scanning laser microscopy or spectroscopy.
  • fluorescence microscopy involves bulky lens-based optical microscopes, where the resolving power is provided by the lens or objective lens.
  • Recent years have seen a strong effort towards miniaturization of microscopy by eliminating many of the conventional free-space optical components, such as the lens.
  • Non-trivial, custom structured light patterns can provide efficient and affordable solutions to image objects without the use of bulky optical components.
  • Patent application EP 3 581 919 A1 relates to an imaging apparatus and a method for imaging an object. This document relates to enabling lens-free sub-pixel resolution imaging of objects using a compact imaging set up consisting of a planar photonic integrated circuit on a pixel sensor array. However, it remains open regarding a method used for achieving the desired illumination pattern.
  • None of the prior art discloses any method for illumination pattern generation or system that may advantageously be applied in a two-dimensional system such as the above described planar photonic integrated circuit, that is, input beams and a generated illumination interference pattern are on the same plane.
  • An object of the present invention is to propose a method, a computer program with programming code, and a device to generate an interference pattern of electromagnetic radiation having a periodicity that is larger than two times the spot size of the high-intensity spots, and high sideband suppression, meaning low-intensity peaks in the interstitial area, with interstitial meaning in between the high-intensity spots forming the periodic pattern.
  • the high-intensity spots have a spot size that is close to, or below, the diffraction limits.
  • a first aspect of the invention provides a method for generating an interference pattern using multi-beam interference of electromagnetic radiation.
  • the method according to the present invention comprises the step of computing a set of grid points in a complex plane representing a grid with a desired symmetry.
  • This symmetry can be, for example, triangular, hexagonal, square, rectangular, or quasi-periodic.
  • the grid points may be related to an integer lattice where the norm of an integer can be related to the radius of a virtual circle.
  • the method further comprises the step of selecting a radius of a virtual circle, selecting a set of grid points in the complex plane that lies on the virtual circle centered around a virtual center point, associating the argument of each grid point of the selected set of grid points in the complex plane, with a propagation direction of plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wavefronts, and obtaining the interference pattern that is a superposition of the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wavefronts.
  • the approach of the present invention is linked to rotational Moire patterns.
  • the obtained interference pattern is a periodic pattern or quasi-periodic and can be understood as a rotational Moire mapping, that is, by superposition of multiple periodic interference patterns rotated by twist angles.
  • the present invention method for generating an interference pattern describes how to calculate such twist angles to obtain non-trivial, custom interference patterns.
  • the grid points and the virtual circle may be in a complex plane.
  • the grid points laying on the virtual circle form the set of selected grid points.
  • the radius may be related to the field norms and the grid points to an integer lattice.
  • the method further comprises the step of shifting a phase angle to modulate the plane waves or quasi plane or parallel wave fronts. Doing so, the interference pattern is still formed by the superposition of the plane waves, and allows modulating the interference pattern.
  • the method comprises the steps of calculating the radiation intensity of the illumination spots of the interference pattern and determining if the interference pattern has a desired symmetry and/or sideband suppression, and/or sparsity of the interference spots.
  • the illumination spots correspond to the constructive interference spots with highest intensity, which are arranged periodically or quasi-periodically.
  • an interference pattern with single intensity peaks has high sideband suppression, meaning low intensity peaks in interstitial area, with interstitial meaning in between the high intensity spots forming the periodic or quasi-periodic pattern. Therefore, by example, it offers high contrast and good signal to background imaging.
  • contrast is defined as the ratio of field intensity at the illumination spots to the maximum intensity in the interstitial spots or regions (i.e., the space between the illumination spots) .
  • the method comprises the step of tuning the symmetry of the array of grid points to obtain a desired symmetry of the interference spot positions.
  • This symmetry can be for example triangular or hexagonal or square or rectangular or quasi-periodic.
  • the method comprises the step of tuning the distance between the illumination spots by tuning the radius of the virtual circle or the angle of incidence of the light beams.
  • Tuning the distance between the illumination spots for practical applications is crucial, since the illumination spots preferably should correlate to pixels of any detection means in an imaging application, to a variety of fluorescent arrays or a variety of microwell or nanowell arrays, or to the desired pattern in a lithography or optical tweezer or photochemistry or other application.
  • the method comprises the step of tuning the interstitial spots which can be achieved by tuning the radius of the virtual circle or the angle of incidence of the light beams or tuning the angle of incidence of the light beams or tuning the phase angle of the input beams.
  • the tunable interstitial regions allow the illumination spots to have high contrast and good signal to background ratio for applications such as imaging, lithography, optical tweezers, and photochemistry.
  • the method preferably further comprises the step of arranging at least partially coherent input beams of electromagnetic radiation such that they have a direction of the wavefront that is the argument of the selected grid points on the selected virtual circle.
  • the structured illumination pattern is formed in the region where the beams intersect.
  • the method comprises the steps of tuning the angle of incidence of the input beams and/or modulation of phases or amplitudes of the input beams to manipulate the illumination spots.
  • the method comprises the step of determining phase shifts of the input beams by multiplying the projection of each selected grid point, corresponding to an orientation angle of each of the input beams, on an axis perpendicular to a desired direction of an intended translation of the interference pattern by the magnitude of the intended translation.
  • the method comprises the step of changing the interference pattern dynamically by modulating the phases, and/or angle of incidence, and/or amplitudes of the input beams.
  • this method allows control and modification of the position of the interference pattern, its periodicity, and its orientation.
  • the method comprises the step of tuning the phase of the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts, as to give them a helical phase to obtain an annular interference spot.
  • the method according to the present invention can be extended to the step where a helical phase is applied to all grid points on the virtual circle that are equidistant on the circle, where a helical phase means that the phase angle for the input beam is equal to the argument of the grid point corresponding to that beam.
  • This step changes the shape of the illumination spots from Gaussian shaped spots to annular spots. These annular spots can be used in multifocal Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) microscopy.
  • the method according to the present invention can be extended to generate three dimensional patterns of illumination spots.
  • the virtual circle is a virtual sphere and the complex plane is a three-dimensional space and the interference pattern is a three-dimensional interference pattern of interference spots. These patterns can find applications, for example, in 3D lithography and 3D optical tweezer lattices.
  • a second aspect of the present invention relates to a computer program with programming code means in order to carry out all of the method steps discussed above to obtain the interference pattern with the desired symmetry, sparsity, and contrast when the program is executed on a suitable computer controlled system.
  • An embodiment of a third aspect of the present invention provides a device to generate an interference pattern using the above-discussed method.
  • the device comprises a plurality of electromagnetic radiation input ports configured to receiving input radiation beams and wherein the radiation beams interfere at a center generating an interference pattern.
  • the device allows the generation of the interference pattern over any desired region such as in free space or vacuum or a central region of the radiation propagating medium or any device, sample or material interface.
  • the device comprises a plurality of light input ports oriented around an optical waveguide for receiving input light beams, wherein the light input ports are configured to provide plane waves or quasi-plane waves or parallel wave fronts forming illumination spots by an interference pattern, which is generated by the method discussed above.
  • the illumination spots illuminate a sample.
  • the virtual center point is associated with the center of the waveguide, and detection means are configured to detect light from an illuminated sample above the waveguide.
  • the waveguide of the device is a slab waveguide for guiding the plane wave or quasi plane waves or parallel light wave fronts or parallel wave fronts.
  • the device preferably comprises at least one phase modulator and/or at least one switch (e.g. a Mach-Zehnder interferometer) for phase shifting and/or altering the magnitude of at least one of the input radiation beams at the radiation input ports.
  • phase and/or amplitude of each of the input beam can be controlled.
  • Fig. 1a-d the general approach to interference pattern formation represented by a bead diagram is illustrated.
  • Fig. 1a shows the bead diagram 10 with a circle 11 on which lies a plurality of points 12.
  • the argument of each of the points 12 on the circle 11 may correspond to a propagation direction of plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • the points 12 are selected randomly without any selection criteria. If the selected points of Fig. 1a are associated with the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts it will result in an interference pattern 13 as shown in Fig. 1b .
  • the obtained interference pattern 13 will have no clear periodic structure and resembles a speckle pattern in real space.
  • the axes of the interference patterns in real space Fig.
  • Fig. 1b and 1d are in wavelength units ⁇ of the incident electromagnetic radiation beams.
  • FIG. 1 c -d Another example to illustrate the general approach to the interference pattern formation represented by a bead diagram is shown in Fig. 1 c -d .
  • the bead diagram 14 in Fig. 1c illustrates the grid points 15 along the circle 16 in the complex plane. These grid points 12 are obtained from a random twist angle 18 of 52° between two hexagonal base interference patterns. Each hexagonal base interference pattern corresponds to an arrangement of six input radiation beams at equal distance around the circle.
  • Fig. 1d shows the resulting interference pattern 17 in the real space corresponding to the bead diagram 14 of Fig. 1c , when associating the grid points 15 with plane waves or quasi-plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • the obtained interference pattern shows indeed a resulting hexagonal Moire superlattice, however, the unit cells are non-uniform and consist of multiple interstitial high intensity peaks (i.e. low quality unit cells).
  • a method for generating an interference pattern using multi beam interference describes the steps in calculating orientations of input beams, such that the resulting interference pattern is periodic or quasi periodic with desired symmetry and with control over the interference spot intensity and their spacing.
  • the method relies on computing grid points in the complex plane that lie on a virtual circle associated with the field norm.
  • Fig 2 and 3 show the method for selecting a radius of a virtual circle, selecting a set of grid points in a complex plane that lies on the virtual circle centered around a virtual center point.
  • the method by associating each selected grid point with a propagation direction of plane waves or quasi plane waves the interference pattern is obtained.
  • the obtained interference pattern is a superposition of the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • Fig. 2 shows an array of grid points 21 in the complex plane with a square grid arrangement 22.
  • a virtual circle 23, 25, 26 is selected among the available concentric circles. All the grid points that lay on one of the virtual circles 23, 25, 26 contribute to the selected grid points 24.
  • the number of grid points on the circle and their angular distribution varies, which immediately relates to the formed interference pattern.
  • the grid points 24 In order to obtain desired interference pattern 27, 28, 29, the grid points 24 must be carefully selected from the plurality of available grid points 21 on the complex plane.
  • the radius of the virtual circle 23, 25, 26 may relate to the field norms and the array of points on the grid may relate to the integer lattice. Therefore, the integer lattice method may be used for finding the lattice points or the beam orientations to obtain the desired interference pattern. By choosing a specific norm it is possible to determine points on the integer lattice.
  • the norm relates to the radius of the virtual circle 23, 25, 26 on the grid 21 as discussed above.
  • the virtual circle 23 is selected.
  • the virtual circle 23 lays eight grid points, which contribute to the selected grid points 24.
  • an interference pattern 27 is obtained.
  • the interference pattern 27 is a structured radiation pattern with a periodicity.
  • the virtual circle 25 corresponds to radius equal to ⁇ 13 for field norm equal to 13 and the virtual circle 26 corresponds to the radius equal to ⁇ 25 for a field norm equal to 25.
  • the interference patterns 28 and 29 correspond to the selected grid points 24 on the virtual circles 25 and 26, respectively.
  • the number of grid points on the circle and their angular distribution is directly related to the selected virtual circle 23, 25, 26.
  • the obtained interference patterns 27, 28, 29 are unique with different interstitial spaces or regions. Also, it can be seen that these interference patterns 27, 28, 29 vary depending on the selected radius of the virtual circle 23, 25, 26, respectively. Further, each of the interference patterns 27, 28, 29 offer good contrast.
  • FIG. 3 an exemplary embodiment of the method for a hexagonal grid arrangement 32 (or can also be considered as a triangular array of grid points) in the complex plane is shown.
  • Each hexagonal grids 32 show concentric virtual circles on the left panel of Fig. 3 .
  • the highlighted virtual circles 33, 35, and 36 correspond to the radius ⁇ 7, ⁇ 13, and ⁇ 19, respectively.
  • the number of grid points and their angular distribution on the virtual circles 33, 35, 36 directly depends on the radius of the virtual circle.
  • the interference patterns 37, 38, 39 in the real space are obtained.
  • the interference patterns 37, 38, 39 correspond to the selected grid points 34 on the virtual circles 33, 35, and 36, respectively.
  • the hexagonal grid 32 also offers unique interference patterns based on the selected radius of the virtual circles.
  • the method according to the present invention advantageously covers the case with a planar geometry, i.e., where the incident beams and the resulting two-dimensional pattern are in the same plane. Further, the same inventive method can be extended to three-dimensional space.
  • the present invention offers a method for dynamic manipulation of the interference patterns generated by the presented integer lattice method using modulation of the phases of the input beams.
  • the generated interference pattern preferably is modulated by shifting the phase angle of the plane waves or quasi-plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • the resulting radiation intensity of the phase-shifted plane waves or quasi-plane waves or parallel wave fronts in the complex plane is calculated as the sum of the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts times its conjugate. This is done to simulate the actual physical interference pattern as would be generated by electromagnetic radiation.
  • phase shifting each beam with equal amount will not change the interference pattern as the shift is counteracted by the complex conjugate of the wave amplitudes when calculating the light intensity.
  • Setting phase shifts at random will just cause the translational symmetry of the interference pattern to disappear.
  • the phase shift must be synced across all input beams.
  • Fig. 4 shows an exemplary embodiment of the translation of an interference pattern according to the present invention along with corresponding input phases.
  • the phase shift is determined by multiplying the projection of each selected grid point, corresponding to the orientation angle of each incident beam 41 (gray dots), on the axis perpendicular to the desired direction of the translation 44 by the magnitude of the intended translation (in units of ⁇ ) 44.
  • the magnitude of the phase shift is denoted by the length of the bar 42, 43 that is oriented radially with respect to the center of the input configuration 41.
  • the phase shifts are represented in a cardioid curve as shown by the dashed curve in Fig. 4a .
  • lengths 42, 43 correspond to the magnitude of the phase shifts for each input beam.
  • the light grey lines 42 represent a positive shift and dark grey lines 43 represent a negative shift.
  • the scanning or translation of the interference pattern can likewise be achieved by phase modulating the incident light beams.
  • the first aspect of the invention it is possible to switch between interference patterns by having multiple configurations of input beams and turning them on or off selectively.
  • the orientation of the beams can be changed to other pre-computed configurations if the experimental embodiment allows this.
  • FIG. 5 another exemplary embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention is illustrated.
  • a two-dimensional planar arrangement is shown in Fig. 5a , wherein all the incident beams 51 are all on the same plane. The beams interfere at the center 54 and the resultant interference pattern also is on the same plane.
  • the incident beams 55 interfere at the center 56 in the 3D configuration in Fig. 5b .
  • the interference pattern at the center 58 is formed by diffracted beams 57 (shown in Fig. 5c ).
  • the interference pattern 59 may be generated as shown in Fig. 5d .
  • the interference pattern can be formed on any desired region for example, in vacuum, free space or central region of the light propagating medium or any device sample or material interface.
  • the first aspect of the present invention can be extended to create interference spots with an annular shape that, combined with Gaussian spots, can be used, for example, to implement STED microscopy as shown in Fig. 9c .
  • a second aspect of the present invention is illustrated as a flowchart in Fig. 6 .
  • the flowchart provides an algorithm or programming code in order to carry out all the method steps as discussed above in a computer or a digital signal processor.
  • a first step S600 initiates the algorithm.
  • a user or a program is allowed to select the desired symmetry of the interference pattern to be generated. Based on the desired symmetry, the type of grid (triangular, square, hexagonal or quasi-periodic) is further selected.
  • Step S602 chooses the field norm defining the radius of the virtual circle.
  • the grid points that lay on the selected virtual circle of the step S602 are selected.
  • each of the selected grid points of the step S603 is associated with the direction of propagation of the plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • a step S605 illumination spots are obtained by computing the intensity profile from the interfering plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave.
  • a step S606 it is checked if the illumination spots match the desired criteria, for example, illumination spot spacing, sideband suppression. If the desired criteria are met, then the algorithm reaches an end step S607. If not, a step S608 is performed, which determines if the symmetry (for example square or hexagonal or triangular or quasi-periodic) of the interference pattern matches the desired symmetry. In the case that the symmetry of the pattern is not the desired symmetry, the algorithm proceeds to step S601. Hence, a reselection of the symmetry is possible at this stage of the algorithm. In the case, the symmetry of the interference pattern is the desired symmetry, which means that other criteria are met, the algorithm proceeds to a step S609.
  • the symmetry of the interference pattern is the desired symmetry, which means that other criteria are met.
  • step S609 it is determined if the illumination spots are sufficiently separated in real space. In the case that, the spots are too dense, a value for the field norm must be chosen that would result in more grid points to be selected on the corresponding virtual circle. In number theory, this is achieved by selecting a number for the field norm that can be factored into more unique primes in the chosen integer lattice. This is done in step S611 and the algorithm further proceeds to the step S602, which performs a re-computation of the radius of the circle. In the other case that the grid points are too sparsely spaced, a value for the field norm must be chosen that would result in fewer grid points to be selected on the corresponding virtual circle.
  • step S610 this is achieved by selecting a number for the field norm that can be factored into fewer unique primes in the chosen integer lattice. This is done in step S610 and the algorithm further proceeds to the step S602, which performs a re-computation of the radius of the circle. Therefore, the algorithm according to the present invention effectively enables selecting the parameters to achieve the desired illumination pattern.
  • An exemplary embodiment provides the determination of parameters in two dimensions and three dimensions.
  • L/K is a Galois extension
  • L ( ⁇ m )
  • the number of elements in the set of ( a,b ) ' s for a given n,m, is the number of input beams.
  • the argument of the grid points ( a + b ⁇ m ) will determine the direction of the propagation of the input beams or plane waves or quasi-plane waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • the number of grid points on the circle depends on the prime factorization of the value of the field norm in the given integer lattice. From the set of solutions, it is possible to choose the configuration best suited for any application intended by the invention.
  • variable parameters may be the symmetry of the grid and the radius of the virtual circle or the selection of grid points or the number of input plane waves or quasi-periodic waves or parallel wave fronts.
  • a device for generating an interference pattern is provided.
  • the device 50 is configured to generate a periodic or quasi-periodic structured illumination pattern according to the method of the present invention.
  • the device 50 consists of a plurality of light input ports that are associated with the selected grid points 51 and are configured to receive input light beams 53,55,57. Wherein the light beams 53,55,57 interfere at a center 54,56,58 generating an interference pattern 59.
  • the input beams 51,55,57 may be quasi-plane waves or parallel light wave fronts.
  • the interference pattern 59 may be generated over any desired region such as vacuum, free space or the light propagating medium or any device, sample or material interface.
  • a device 710 configured to generate a (quasi-) periodic structured light pattern according to the invention is illustrated in Fig. 7a and Fig. 7b .
  • the device 710 consists of a plurality of light input ports 711 oriented around an optical waveguide 712 with a bottom cladding 713.
  • the optical waveguide 712 is fabricated over an array of light-sensitive areas 714.
  • the optical waveguide 713 may confine the input light beams 715 to a single propagation plane.
  • the optical waveguide 712 can have any arbitrary shape.
  • the input beams 715 interfere at the center of the optical waveguide 712 to form interference pattern 716.
  • Fig. 7a illustrates a circular shaped optical waveguide central region 712.
  • the input ports 711 provide at least partially coherent beams 715 to the imaging region 716 located at the center of the waveguide 712.
  • the waveguide 712 confines the light to a single propagation plane.
  • An arrow 717 represents the scanning of the focal spots over the waveguide 712.
  • the array of light-sensitive areas or imager 714 may be a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) or a charge-coupled device (CCD).
  • CMOS complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
  • CCD charge-coupled device
  • the waveguide can be an optical slab waveguide or even a suitable arrangement of mirrors in free space or vacuum or any electromagnetic wave guiding device or structure.
  • the optical waveguide 712 may be formed from SiN or any other suitable material, which is suitable for transporting over a broad spectral range, being essentially transparent to the visible light and/or infrared light. Therefore, it is suitable for integration monolithically on a semiconductor circuitry.
  • a layer of SiN 712 may be advantageously formed without affecting an underlying semiconductor circuitry.
  • SiN has a suitable refractive index to facilitate total internal reflection in the optical waveguide 712.
  • other suitable material or combinations of materials may form the optical waveguide 712.
  • the bottom cladding layer 713 may be formed from any suitable material having a relatively low refractive index so as to ensure that light propagating through the optical waveguide 712 is subjected to total internal reflection in an interface between the optical waveguide 712 and the bottom cladding layer 713.
  • the bottom cladding layer may be SiO 2 or any other suitable material.
  • the plurality of input ports 711 of the optical waveguide 712 may allow very accurate control of the interference pattern 716 formed in the center of the optical waveguide 712.
  • the number of input ports 711 may be chosen to match the selected grid points 24, 34 that in turn is based on the desired interference pattern as discussed above.
  • the light beams 715 from the input ports 711 interact to form a sparsely spaced array of illumination spots 716 on top of the optical waveguide 712, for example optical slab waveguide, to form an interference pattern 716 in the center of the waveguide 712.
  • the optical waveguide 712 may comprise one or more mirrors to aid reflection of the light beams 715, which can further contribute to the formation of the interference pattern 716.
  • the interference pattern 716 comprises at least one illumination spot 716.
  • the illumination spots may have a circular or an elliptical shape in two dimensions.
  • Scanning 717 is achieved by modulating the phase of the input beams 715.
  • Both the phase and amplitude of each input beams 715 can be controlled by a peripheral photonic integrated circuit (PIC) comprising, e.g., at least one phase modulators and/or at least one Mach-Zehnder interferometer switch.
  • PIC peripheral photonic integrated circuit
  • the modulation of the input beams 715 can be achieved for instance by thermal optical modulation with the use of heating elements or by use of an opto-electro-mechanical effect or by applying an electric or a magnetic field to the input ports 711 or any other known means in the art.
  • the waveguide material preferably is silicon nitride or niobium oxide.
  • the waveguide material preferably is silicon.
  • any suitable material can be selected as the waveguide material based on the operating spectral range.
  • the device 710 is suitable for detecting fluorescence light from a sample 721, which is in a close relation to the device 710, preferably in contact with the device 710 as shown in Fig. 7b , i.e. configuration 720.
  • the illumination spots 722 selectively illuminate portions of the sample 721.
  • the changing interference pattern may move (as marked by the arrow 717) the illumination spots 722 in relation to the sample 721 in such a manner that the illumination spots 722 scan over the sample 721 for imaging the entire sample 726.
  • the imager/image sensor 723 comprises an array of pixels 724 suitable for detecting the fluorescence or scattering response 725 from a part of the sample 727.
  • the device may provide a filter (not shown) to selectively absorb or reflect the light of undesired wavelengths, whereas light of interest from the part of the sample 727 may transmit through the filter.
  • each illumination spot 722 may coincide with one pixel 724 of the image sensor 723, hence providing a system analogous to multi-focal laser scanning microscopy. As a result, an optical spatial resolution of sub-pixel size can be achieved. It is not a strict requirement that each illumination spot may coincide with one pixel 724 of the image sensor 723.
  • a suitable image reconstruction algorithm may be used to recover a high-resolution image.
  • a third exemplary embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention is the proposed use of the structured illumination pattern obtained by the interference pattern even in the absence of the monolithically integrated pixel sensor array.
  • a variation using a regular microscope comprising of an objective lens, optional optical filter, and pixel sensor array (e.g. CCD or CMOS camera) can be used for optical fluorescence or scattered light detection.
  • the structured illumination resides still completely on a Photonic Integrated Circuit with the advantage of high surface-sensitive multi-focal scanning total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) based illumination without the need for expensive TIRF objective lens and sensitive alignment.
  • TIRF total internal reflection fluorescence
  • a spatial optical resolution is better than the free-space diffraction limit due to the higher refractive index of the waveguide.
  • Multi-focal scanning allows an increased imaging speed and throughput as compared to single beam scanning, e.g. confocal fluorescence microscopy within a compact system, eliminating bulky, expensive and alignment sensitive free-space beam-shaping components.
  • a fourth aspect of the present invention is to extend the method to a free space (three-dimensional) system.
  • the generation of the desired illumination patterns based on the present invention in three-dimensional space is shown in Fig. 8 .
  • the method can be achieved by implementing a 2D planar embodiment based on a Photonic Integrated Circuit.
  • Fig. 8 shows the experimental verification of the present invention in a 3D system.
  • the interference pattern can be formed by diffracted beams.
  • the corresponding experimental interference pattern 85 is shown in Fig. 8c . It is seen that the experimental pattern 85 matches the simulated pattern 84 very well.
  • the experimental interference pattern 85 is achieved by associating plane waves or quasi plane waves or parallel wave fronts with selected grid points 83.
  • the experimental interference pattern 85 is obtained by allowing the interference of diffracted beams and using an amplitude mask with a hole diameter of 25 ⁇ m.
  • the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by hardware, software or any combination thereof.

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Claims (15)

  1. Procédé pour générer un motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 59, 84, 85, 716) en utilisant des interférences de faisceaux multiples d'un rayonnement électromagnétique, comportant les étapes consistant à :
    calculer un ensemble de points de grille dans un plan complexe représentant une grille (22, 32, 81) avec une symétrie voulue,
    sélectionner un rayon d'un cercle virtuel (23, 25, 26, 33, 35, 36, 59, 82),
    sélectionner un ensemble de points de grille (24, 34, 83) dans le plan complexe qui se situe sur le cercle virtuel (23, 25, 26, 33, 35, 36, 82) centré autour d'un point central virtuel,
    associer un argument de chaque point de grille de l'ensemble sélectionné de points de grille (24, 34, 83) dans le plan complexe à une direction de propagation d'ondes planes ou d'ondes quasi planes ou de fronts d'ondes parallèles, et
    obtenir le motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 84, 85, 716) qui est une superposition des ondes planes ou des ondes quasi planes ou des fronts d'ondes parallèles.
  2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    moduler les ondes planes ou les ondes quasi planes ou les fronts d'ondes parallèles en changeant un angle de phase.
  3. Procédé selon la revendication 1 ou 2, comportant en outre les étapes consistant à :
    calculer l'intensité de rayonnement électromagnétique du motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 59, 84, 85, 716) et
    déterminer si le motif d'intensité calculé a une symétrie voulue et/ou une suppression de bande latérale et/ou une distance entre les spots d'interférences.
  4. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    accorder la symétrie du réseau de points de grille pour obtenir une symétrie voulue des positions de spots d'interférences.
  5. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    accorder le rayon du cercle virtuel dans le plan complexe pour obtenir un espacement voulu des spots d'interférences.
  6. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    disposer des faisceaux d'entrée de rayonnement électromagnétique au moins partiellement cohérents (53, 55, 57, 715) de telle sorte qu'ils aient une direction du front d'onde qui est l'argument des points de grille sélectionnés (24, 34, 83) sur le cercle virtuel sélectionné (23, 25, 26, 33, 35, 36, 82).
  7. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comportant en outre les étapes consistant à :
    manipuler les spots d'éclairage en accordant l'angle d'incidence des faisceaux d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715) et/ou réaliser une modulation de phase ou de grandeur des faisceaux d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715).
  8. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    déterminer des déphasages des faisceaux d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715) en multipliant la projection de chaque point de grille sélectionné, correspondant à un angle d'orientation de chacun des faisceaux d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715), sur un axe perpendiculaire à une direction voulue d'une translation prévue (44) du motif d'interférences par l'ampleur de la translation voulue.
  9. Procédé selon les revendications précédentes, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    changer dynamiquement le motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 84, 85, 716).
  10. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications 2 à 9, comportant en outre l'étape consistant à :
    accorder la phase des ondes planes ou des ondes quasi planes ou des fronts d'ondes parallèles, de manière à leur donner une phase hélicoïdale pour obtenir un spot d'interférences annulaire.
  11. Procédé selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 10,
    dans lequel le cercle virtuel est une sphère virtuelle et le plan complexe est un espace tridimensionnel et le motif d'interférences est un motif d'interférences tridimensionnel de spots d'interférences.
  12. Programme informatique comportant des instructions qui, lorsque le programme est exécuté par un système adapté commandé par ordinateur, amène le système commandé par ordinateur à exécuter les étapes selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 11.
  13. Dispositif (710) comportant :
    une pluralité de ports d'entrée de rayonnement électromagnétique (711) configurés pour recevoir des faisceaux de rayonnement d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715) et
    dans lequel les faisceaux de rayonnement d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715) interfèrent sur un centre (54, 56, 58) en générant un motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 59, 84, 85, 716) selon le procédé de l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 11.
  14. Dispositif (710) selon la revendication 13,
    dans lequel la pluralité de ports d'entrée de lumière (711) est orientée autour d'un guide d'ondes optique (712) pour recevoir les faisceaux lumineux d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715), dans lequel les ports d'entrée de lumière (711) sont configurés pour fournir des ondes formant des spots d'éclairage (722) par le motif d'interférences (27, 28, 29, 37, 38, 39, 84, 85, 716),
    dans lequel les spots d'éclairage (722) éclairent un échantillon (721),
    dans lequel le point central virtuel des revendications 1 à 10 est aligné avec le centre du guide d'ondes (712), et des moyens de détection (723) configurés pour détecter la lumière provenant d'un échantillon éclairé (725) au-dessus du guide d'ondes (712).
  15. Dispositif selon la revendication 13 ou 14,
    dans lequel au moins un modulateur de phase et/ou au moins un commutateur de déphasage et/ou destiné à changer la grandeur d'au moins un des faisceaux de rayonnement d'entrée (53, 55, 57, 715) balaient les spots d'interférences.
EP20169757.0A 2020-04-16 2020-04-16 Procédé et dispositif pour générer des motifs d'interférence (quasi) périodiques Active EP3896523B1 (fr)

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EP20169757.0A EP3896523B1 (fr) 2020-04-16 2020-04-16 Procédé et dispositif pour générer des motifs d'interférence (quasi) périodiques
US17/224,466 US11555745B2 (en) 2020-04-16 2021-04-07 Method and device for generating (quasi-) periodic interference patterns

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US7589729B2 (en) * 2002-05-15 2009-09-15 Mental Images Gmbh Image synthesis by rank-1 lattices
US8259106B2 (en) * 2002-05-15 2012-09-04 Mental Images Gmbh Low-dimensional rank-1 lattices in computer image synthesis
EP2359194B1 (fr) * 2008-11-26 2013-08-14 Micronic Mydata AB Lecture et écriture d'images utilisant un système d'entrelaçage bidimensionnel complexe
US9019468B2 (en) 2010-09-30 2015-04-28 Georgia Tech Research Corporation Interference projection exposure system and method of using same
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